Since 1989 NEU was assigned by the government with three key tasks. They are: 1/ to act as a consultant to the Government on macro-economic policy; 2/ to provide undergraduate and postgraduate business education with the best quality standards; and 3/ to provide management training and development for managers of both state and private sectors and emerging entrepreneurs.

        NEU at present time is serving as:

• One of the largest and top quality economic and business educational institutions in Vietnam. It currently has over 45,000 students, a staff of 1167 (of which, there are 697 lecturers, 21 professors, 105 associate professors, 108 doctor degree holders, and 411 masters) and 28 faculties/departments with 44 specializations and 8 training branches for a bachelor's degree including Economics, Business Administration, Banking and Finance, Accounting, Economic Information System, Law, Computer Science, and Foreign Languages; 33 specializations for a master's degree and 22 specializations for a doctoral degree in economics, management and business administration. Besides degree granting programmes, it regularly offers intensive training courses in economics and business administration for economic managers and practitioners nationwide.

  NEU has so far provided many generations of dynamic managers adaptable to the market economy and capable of acquiring new technologies. Among its graduates, there are many people who are holding important posts in agencies and bodies of the Party, National Assembly, Government, and companies as well.

• a prestigious center for economic research. The researches conducted by the center mainly support activities like training, making economic policies of the Party, the Government, industries, localities, and business strategies of enterprises; It continues to be the place of cutting-edge economic and business researches of the country. It is assigned a lot of important and big-scale research programmes by the Government. Besides, it has cooperated with many international institutions and organizations to conduct joint research programmes.
• A center for consulting and transfer of technology of economic and business management. It makes a significant contribution in providing central and local level organizations and agencies as well as enterprises in Vietnam with consulting services.¬¬¬¬¬ Its profound influence over the whole Doi Moi process has been reinforced by the close links it has with the Government bodies and businesses.

        By the year 2020, NEU aim to become a quality university in the Asia. Emphasis is, on one hand, put on developing the faculty members in terms of both quantity and qualifications to reach international standards. On the other, to encourage more effective learning, we are now upgrading offices and classrooms, adding new audio visual equipment, developing new textbooks and reference materials, updating information and data system for education, training and research, and replacing the existing infrastructure with a modern one.